Every good story begins with 'Once upon a time'
by SlyFox221216
Summary: Every good story starts with once upon a time. Everyone knew this. The question of the matter was… how does a grueling nightmare begin? Belle's nightmare had just started. The world has gone to shit and there isn't anyone around who can help her ...or is there?
1. Chapter 1

Every good story starts with once upon a time. Everyone knew this. The question of the matter was… how does a gruelling nightmare begin?

…..

Once upon a time, not so long ago, Belle would have found herself tucked up warm and safe in her bed. She'd wake up to buzz of her alarm and shower with fresh, warm water. She'd have dressed however she wanted, in clean, ironed clothes and headed off for a full day's work, something that had always bought her joy.

But now? Now that seemed like a life time ago. A fairy tale she'd made up in her head. A dream created by her own desperate imagination.

Instead, Belle was wide eyed, alert and running. Running through the dense woods, surrounded by large thick trees and muddy, uneven ground. She could hear them behind her as she ran. The growls that cut through the silence of the still air. The moans that haunted her day and night.

She twisted off to the left, stepping over a fallen branch.

Sure she could take them on. There were only a handful after all, but she was tired and weak from days of travelling by foot, hours of endless wondering and a complete lack of sleep. She had nowhere to go, no one left to go with and she was beginning to wonder what the point in running actually was anymore.

She made a sharp right hand turn, stumbling a little through the shrubs.

The crack of the twigs under her feet caught her attention and made her frown. Too loud. She looked ahead of her and saw a trail of leaves. Quieter. She took a few more strides forward and slowed to a walk, taking some deep breaths. She glanced behind her, checking that she was in the clear and raised her hand to her heart, feeling the pulsations under her skin. She'd lost them finally.

She continued on, in blind hope that she'd come across a clearing so that she could better grasp her surroundings. As she took another step forward, she heard the snap before she felt it. The spring of the metal. Her stomach lurched as the pain shot through her. A scream rang out into the air, causing her to freeze and drop to the floor. It took her a second to realise that it was her own voice that was making the pained noise, and she forced herself to stop. Tears formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she glanced down at her trapped foot. The bear trap had snapped shut on her ankle, leaving it bloody and imprisoned. She moaned out in pain, gripping her knee in agony.

She tugged on the teeth of the trap in a desperate attempt to free herself but it didn't budge. She let another pained whine escape her mouth and closed her eyes tight, trying to focus on her breathing.

That was when she heard them again. The groans of the dead that she had alerted of her location. Shit.

She looked up and watched in horror as they started stumbling through the trees towards her. She grabbed her axe from her side and without any indecision, she launched it at the nearest one. It struck the head, right between the eyes. She watched it fall to the ground and shuffled back a little. She reached into her pocket and grabbed out her knife, gripping it tightly in her hand.

She bought it up as soon as the dead man had advanced closer to her and pierced him through the skull, shoving his body backwards with her other hand. She watched as his blood sprayed out across the forest floor. Two more lurked out from behind the trees in front of her and she hobbled up onto one foot with determination, her other foot still entangled with the trap. She braced herself and dived forward at the unwelcome body that was shuffling closer, catching her in the eye and pressing down hard. She felt a hand on her shoulder and immediately sent her knife up into the jaw of the other. She cried out as it collapsed onto of her. The added weight of its body made her ankle bend and throb. She mastered the strength to pull it off of her and flopped down onto her back, out of breath and almost sobbing. Her vision was beginning to blur, with black spots appearing every few seconds. Another gasp escaped her lips as the pain ripping through her sore foot was beginning to feel unbearable.

"Fuck!" she screamed out into the trees in frustration, trying to focus on getting rid of the blur. Her head span and she could only wince as she tried to sit back up. She locked her jaw hard and closed her eyes tightly, rubbing them a little.

She almost missed it. The shuffle of the leaves, the growls of hunger. Fuck.

Two more dead were wondering closer to her. Her head swayed as she tried to focus on them but they were only becoming more of a blur. She grappled for her knife which she had just realised wasn't in her hand anymore.

"No." she mumbled. "No…"

Black dots filled her vision and she fell back onto her side, unable to hold herself up. This was it, she thought. This is how she dies. She closed her eyes slowly as the blurred figures reached her.

….

A whistle of wind sounded above her. And another. The growls fell silent and two bodies hit the floor hard. Belle groaned, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. Trying to muster the strength to open her eyes.

Footsteps, heavy and even reached her ears. Panting and a low male voice.

"Hey girl, you bit?"

She peeled back her eyelids and turned her head to the sound of the voice. The man was stood over her, still blurred but definitely a man. She must have looked bad because he didn't wait for her to answer before checking her over himself. He grabbed her arms and shoulders, and then inspected her legs too. She moaned as he reached her left leg and shoved his hand away lightly.

"You need to stay still so I can get ya out of this." His gruff voice said clearly. Belle tried hard to nod.

She shook with pain as he sorted out the trap and cried out. With one last look at the man, her vision went black.

….


	2. Chapter 2

"_Come on Lucy," Belle urged, tugging on her sisters hand to keep her moving. "They aren't far behind us."_

"_Belle!" Lucy moaned, "It's no use running, there are too many. We need to hide." _

_Belle frowned in frustration, glancing behind her at the group of dead following them. She was right. _

"_This way." She said, dragging Lucy to their left and down an abandoned alley. "Quick, in here." _

_Lucy paused and pulled a face. "In the bin?" she questioned in disgust causing Belle to huff with impatience. "Ok, ok, I'm getting in." _

_Belle helped her climb up and over, into the dumpster, quickly following and shutting the lid on them. It was dark and cold inside, with only the faintest slither of light edging through the gaps at the top of the bin. Thank goodness it was empty, she thought. In the dim light she could make out her sister's crouched form, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. _

"_You ok?" she asked in a hush whisper. _

_A pause, before Lucy replied, "Yeah. That was close." _

_Belle felt her shuffle closer, and she wrapped her arms around her small frame, and began to stroke her hair. _

"_I know, its ok. We are ok." She calmed. _

_The young girl looked up at her. "I keep dreaming that they catch us, just like dad and Peter." _

_Belle stiffened at the mention of their father and brother. Those wounds were still fresh and the emotion sliced through her like a knife. "Yeah, me too." She sighed. "I won't let that happen though." _

_This seemed to sooth Lucy a little. "So what's our plan now?" _

"_We wait until the coast is clear and then get on out of this thing and-." _

"_No," Lucy interrupted, "What is the big plan. Where do we go now?" _

"_Well, I've heard that Atlanta has a safe zone. Maybe we head for there, check it out. Somewhere has got to be safe, surly." Belle reasoned. Lucy nodded and rested her head on her older sister's shoulder. _

_They stayed like that for a while, both shaking slightly from the cold, before Lucy spoke again. _

"_Hey Belle?"_

"_Hmm?" Belle hummed in reply, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. _

"_I love you."_

"_I love you too Luce."_

…

Belle's eyes snapped open with a start. Her heart ached at the thought of her sister and she had to take several deep breaths to calm herself. That was when she realized where she was… or rather where she wasn't. Gone were the thick bushy trees and soft muddy ground. Instead, she saw bland brown walls and felt some kind of scratchy fabric underneath her. Where was she?

Letting her eyes adjust to the sunlight, she pushed herself backwards and sat up slightly. She realized that she was sitting, previously laying, on an old brown sofa in the back of what looked like a camper van or RV.

A wave of pain shot through her leg and she looked down, expecting to see the bloody mess that she recalled her foot to be in, but instead she saw clean white bandages covering her wounds.

"What?" she questioned out loud, touching the soft fabric gently. Just then, a man entered the vehicle. An old man, with a snowy white beard and thick eyebrows. He was wearing a summery shirt and a battered fishing hat. Belle though that this cheery look looked out of sorts in this new, harsher world.

The man looked up as he entered, and noticing she was awake, gave her a toothy grin and held his hands out in front of him.

"Hi there, I'm glad that you're finally awake." His voice was slightly croaky, but soft and kind. "My name is Dale."

Belle backed herself up against the van wall and remained silent, eyeing the stranger with unease.

"I'm sure you're confuse my dear. I can answer any questions you have but first, your name?" he asked politely, taking a seat opposite her. He groaned slightly as he sat down, and mumbled something about old bones.

Belle hesitated before answering. "Belle."

"Nice to meet you Belle. How's the foot feeling?"

Belle shrugged.

"Well, Carol did a good job patching you up. Daryl said he found you all caught in a bear trap. Nasty accident."

"Daryl?" she mumbled, touching her temple, trying to sort her thoughts.

"He's the one who found you, bought you back to us. He knew you'd die if you were left out there, either from infection or from the walkers. That's what we call the dead. Do you have a group? Anyone that we can help you get back to?"

Belle didn't have a great poker face. She grimaced and looked down at the floor of the truck.

"No." she muttered simply.

Dale seemed to read her well. "I'm sorry for your loss." He said gently. "Well then, maybe you'd like to continue staying with us after your foot heals." He suggested, with a boost of optimism. "We have a good group with some very good people. People you'd want on your side when the world is ending. We have children too, a few actually. Daryl mentioned that you took on a few walkers on your own before he even got to you… we need more people like you, always good to have an extra pair of hands. You'd have to run it by the others first I suppose, but it won't be a problem."

Belle didn't reply. She wasn't used to this kind of cheeriness anymore. She wondered what other characters were in their group. She wasn't much of a people person herself.

"Are you thirsty?" Dale asked changing the subject, shaking her from her thoughts. Her throat suddenly ached with thirst and she nodded quickly. He threw her a bottle of water from the side board next to him, and she caught it effortlessly. She nodded a thanks, swigging down several gulps before setting it aside.

Dale watched her do this with a small smile. "I'll let you rest. When you're ready, why don't you come out and meet everyone? So long as you can walk on your foot that is." He joked, patting his knees as he stood up. "Dinner will be in a few hours."

Belle watched him go without a word. She was so confused. It had been a long time since she had met someone so… normal. She shook her head, trying to get her thoughts in order.

…..

An hour or two had passed since she had woken up, and she had been watching the group from the window of the RV. She couldn't get over how normal they seemed, doing things like washing clothes and playing card games. It was both refreshing to see and it shook her to her core. She had finally plucked up the energy to hobble onto the edge of the sofa and tested her foot out on the solid floor. Shit it hurt. She winced in pain as she shifted a bit more weight onto it. When she was almost standing, she grabbed onto the kitchen side and took a small step. The pain radiated through her ankle and up to her legs, but she bit down on her lip and kept going. It was a slow process, something that she found tedious and annoying. It made her feel weak and vulnerable.

She edged around the doorway of the van and attempted to take the two shorts steps down onto the ground without drawing too much attention. This attempt was pointless however when she knocked her foot against the door way by accident and a loud painful hiss escaped her lips.

"Shit." She muttered under her breath.

"Hey, want some help?"

She looked up to find a tall blond girl looking back at her.

"Um, sure. Thanks." She mumbled quietly, accepting the girls hand and by leaning on her for support, she made her way over to one of the camping chairs that looked unoccupied.

"My name's Amy!" the girl chirped with a musical voice. "You're Belle, right?

Belle nodded.

"Dale told us about you. He said you might stay with us! It'll be cool if you do." She exclaimed excitedly. Belle lifted half her mouth in a small effort to smile at the bouncy girl next to her. "Here you go, let's sit you down here."

"Cheers." Belle thanked, suddenly feeling very small and anxious. Several people were staring at her as she got comfortable.

"Hi, I'm Lori." A brunette woman said from across the fire pit. She was tall and lean, and held a small boy in her grasp. "This is Carl, my son." Carl waved shyly. "My husband Rick is out on a run in town with some of the other members of the group at the moment but they won't be long."

Belle nodded a small hello to her and her son.

"Your foot looks so sore." Amy said, eyeing the bandage with a sympathetic look. Belle nodded.

"Yeah, it is." She said quietly.

A family of three sat huddled around a board game to her left, and Amy informed her that they were Miranda, Louis and Eliza, the Morales family. The father was out with Rick. She then pointed out a skinny man with a dark beard, cutting wood at the edge of the tree line. That was Jim.

"You know… I won't remember all these names." Belle mumbled, hugging her knees.

Amy chuckled. "That's ok, you will do in time."

"Hi there, I'm Carol and this is Sophia." A short grey haired lady had walked up behind their chairs and smiled at Belle. "I can sort your dressing on your foot in a few days if you like."

"Thanks." Belle blushed. She was beginning to feel overwhelmed when a large stocky male walked over to them.

"Anyone heard anything on the talkies?" he inquired loudly, groaning when everyone shook their heads. "Just had to go running after that drugged up-… taking our best men with him didn't he. That's Rick for ya." He grumbled.

"Have you met Belle yet, Shane?" Amy asked the man, causing his attention to turn to her.

"No. Nice to meet you. Now I heard that you may be staying… that right?" he asked, running a hand through his thick hair. Belle shrugged. "Well, you're welcome to but we have rules in this group. Everyone puts in their part. Know your legs messed up but once you're better, that's expected of you too. We don't take any unessacary risks, so no one wonders too far or goes off without letting someone know where they are. We don't want any trouble in camp. We are all in this shit together."

Better nodded slowly, eyeing the man infront of her. She noticed that he seemed on edge and uncomfortable.

"Lori… Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, turning his attention to the brunette this time. It seemed tense as Lori gave him a curt nod before following him off towards the tents.

"Don't mind Shane." Amy quipped, "He's all bark, no bite."

Belle let out a small smile. She liked this girl.


End file.
